The Best Skincare Routines For Every Season & Skin Type

Have you noticed that as soon as the temperature drops, your skin feels like it needs an extra boost of hydration? And when it warms up, you might find it suddenly feels oilier than before.

As the seasons change, so do the environmental factors that affect your skin, including temperature, humidity, and exposure to elements like wind or sun. These shifts can impact your skin's hydration levels, oil production, and overall balance, making it essential to adapt your skincare routine to meet its evolving needs.

It’s not just the changing seasons that can affect your complexion and the skincare routine steps you need. Your skin type also plays a significant role in creating and maintaining an effective beauty routine, no matter the weather or time of year.

By understanding your unique skin type — whether it’s dry, oily, blemish-prone, or sensitive — you can ensure your routine works in harmony with your skin’s natural tendencies.

As a quick overview, here are our top recommendations for creating skincare routines for the most common skin types.

Dry skin benefits from hydration and nourishment to combat any feelings of tightness.

Cleanse: If you have dry skin, develop a beauty routine with a gentle, buttery-soft cleanser like our hydrating Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm.

Treat: Promote a dewy glow with a mineral-enriched essence, like the Pro-Collagen Marine Moisture Essence. Featuring flash filler hyaluronic acid, this essence helps maximise the absorption of your next skincare steps while offering a generous hydration boost.

Hydrate: A serum or oil, like our Pro-Collagen Rose Micro Serum, can also help soothe and hydrate.

Moisturise: Look for moisturisers enriched with ingredients like our hydration hero, Padina Pavonica — this marine botanical quenches your skin’s thirst for a visibly radiant complexion. We can’t recommend our Pro-Collagen Marine Cream enough.

Night care: At night, treat your skin with a rich overnight treatment or oil to restore suppleness.

For oily skin, it’s best to focus on lightweight products that control shine while maintaining hydration.

Cleanse: We recommend starting your daily routine with a gel-based cleanser, such as our Pro-Collagen Energising Marine Cleanser or the nutrient-packed Superfood Facial Wash. These will sweep away excess oil without stripping your skin of its essential moisture or leaving your pores feeling heavy.

Tone: A balancing toner can also help refine your complexion’s texture and reduce shine.

Moisturise: For your moisturiser, again, look for a lightweight formula.

Keep it gentle: While it can be tempting to exfoliate to wash excess oil away, it can sometimes have the opposite effect — it may leave your skin feeling dry (especially in the winter), which means it produces more oil to compensate.

Blemish-prone skin requires a consistent and gentle approach to maintain clarity and balance. Our Dynamic Resurfacing range offers targeted solutions to refine, smooth, and support your skin, leaving it looking clearer and more radiant.

Cleanse: Begin with a thorough yet gentle cleanse to remove impurities and excess oil without over-drying. Try our purifying Dynamic Resurfacing Facial Wash.

Exfoliate: Use our Dynamic Resurfacing Facial Pads a couple of times a week to gently lift away dead skin cells and help prevent clogged pores. 

Treat: Apply a brightening serum, like our Dynamic Resurfacing Super-C Serum, to brighten and support your skin’s natural renewal process, leaving your complexion visibly more refined.

Moisturise: Finish with a lightweight moisturiser to hydrate and calm your skin without clogging pores. 

At ELEMIS, we understand that sensitive skin needs extra care and attention. Our gentle, nourishing products are designed to restore balance and calm, providing your skin with the support it needs to feel comfortable and look healthy.

Cleanse: If your skin is sensitive to fragrances, start your skincare routine with our Pro-Collagen Fragrance-Free Cleansing Balm. This fragrance-free balm gently removes makeup and impurities, leaving your skin feeling clean and hydrated without stripping it of its natural moisture.

Exfoliate: It’s important to exfoliate gently when you have sensitive skin. Our exfoliators do exactly that, soothing as it sweeps away dead skin cells.

Treat: Apply a soothing treatment or serum to address any specific skincare concerns, supporting your skin’s natural ability to protect and renew itself.

Oil: Add an extra layer of nourishment with a lightweight facial oil, like the Pro-Collagen Marine Oil. Infused with three seaweeds, this oil gently hydrates for skin that feels soft and looks radiant.

Moisturise: Finish with our Pro-Collagen Rose Marine Cream. This deeply nourishing moisturiser calms as it hydrates, strengthening your skin’s barrier and leaving it feeling soft, smooth, and restored.

So, how does all of this tie into the best skincare routines for each season?

After months of cold weather, spring is the perfect time to focus on refreshing and renewing your skin. Common concerns during this transition include dullness, uneven texture, and post-winter dryness. Even if your skin doesn’t feel sensitive any other time of year, you may find you need to treat it with a little extra TLC in the spring months. You might also want to incorporate brightening skincare products to help reveal your complexion’s glow. Our Superfood Glow Priming Moisturiser can be excellent additions to your skincare routine in the spring.

When the weather gets warmer, you might notice that your skin faces various challenges — from increased oil production to dehydration caused by the heat. Sun exposure also becomes a major concern, leading to the risk of sun damage and premature ageing. It’s important to adjust your skincare routine in the summer to protect your skin and keep it hydrated.

SPF is your first line of defence — so never skip it. For broad-spectrum protection, our Pro-Collagen Marine Cream SPF 30 and Pro-Collagen Skin Protection Fluid SPF 50 are excellent choices, providing hydration while shielding your skin from harmful UV rays.

Autumn often brings dry air and fluctuating temperatures, making your skin feel more sensitive and in need of replenishment. During this time, your skin may need extra care to repair summer damage and enjoy an extra boost of hydration as the weather cools.

Nourishing night creams, like our Pro-Collagen Night Cream and reparative masks, become essential to help restore and replenish your skin overnight. For an additional moisture hit, the ULTRA SMART Pro-Collagen Aqua Infusion Mask deeply nourishes and repairs. It delivers three levels of hydration for skin that looks youthful and feels smooth and revitalised. Look for sumptuous cleansers that will reveal your complexion’s radiance. Our Superfood Glow Cleansing Butter gently removes impurities while keeping your skin soft and hydrated.

Do you notice your skin feeling more dehydrated in winter? Cold weather and central heating can take their toll. The best skincare routines for winter focus on nourishing and protecting your skin to keep it hydrated and comfortable throughout the season. Balms, intensive moisturisers, and protective serums are vital during these months, and it's important not to over-exfoliate.

If you're looking for your ultimate winter companion, it has to be our Pro-Collagen Marine Cream Ultra-Rich. This luxurious face cream provides deep moisture while guarding your skin from the elements.

At ELEMIS, we believe that skincare should evolve with the seasons and meet the unique needs of every skin type. From the hydration your skin craves in the summer to the nourishment it requires in winter, we offer a range of skincare products designed to support your skin throughout the year. By understanding how the changing weather impacts your skin, you can curate the best skincare routines with products that work in harmony with your complexion’s needs. Our expertly crafted formulas ensure your skin stays balanced, hydrated, and protected all year long.

Explore our skincare collections and embrace the seasons confidently, knowing that we have the perfect solutions for every skin type and every time of year.